Walter Muir Whitehill (1905 – 1978) was an American writer, historian,

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, and the Director and Librarian of the

Boston Athenaeum Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

from 1946 to 1973.Current biography yearbook H.W. Wilson Company - 1961 "The only child of the Reverend Walter Muir Whitehill, an Episcopal clergyman, and Florence Marion (Williams) Whitehill, a painter, Walter Muir Whitehill was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 28, 1905. His first experience with " He was also editor for publications of the

Colonial Society of Massachusetts Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

from 1946 to 1978. From 1951 to 1972 Whitehill was a professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Whitehill's father of the same name was an Episcopalian minister. The younger Whitehill received his AB and AM degrees from Harvard in 1926 and 1929. Shortly after this he married Jane Revere Coolidge, a descendant of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

and eldest daughter of

Julian Coolidge Julian Lowell Coolidge (September 28, 1873 – March 5, 1954) was an American mathematician, historian and a professor and chairman of the Harvard University Mathematics Department. Biography Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he graduated from Har ...

. He then went to England where he received a Ph.D. from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. In 1932 he did in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...

the first full transcription of the medieval

Codex Calixtinus The (also ''Compostellus'') is the main witness for the 12th-century , or the Book of Saint James. It is a pseudepigraph attributed to Pope Callixtus II; its principal author or compilator is referred to as "Pseudo-Callixtus", often identified w ...

. Whitehill was selected to deliver an important televised address about the history and development of Boston on the occasion of the Bicentennial Celebration of the United States. On July 11, 1976, he spoke at the Old State House in the presence of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, the Mayor of Boston, the Governor of Massachusetts, and a large audience. The text of his address was printed in a publication by the Bostonian Society, which operates the Old State House on behalf of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

. He delivered the commencement address in 1974 at the College of William and Mary. Although Whitehill's publishing career focused on Bostoniana, his significant work on Spanish medieval topics represented the first American interest in the subject.

Publications

Ernest J. King Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was an American naval officer who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the Un ...

and Walter Muir Whitehill, ''Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record''. New York City: W. W. Norton Company, 1952.
''Boston, A Topographical History,''
Third Edition, Enlarged, with Lawrence W. Kennedy, 2000. Hardcover , Paperback . Read
review at h-net.org
*''Boston in the Age of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.'' University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. LCCN 66-10289 *''Boston Prints and Printmakers, 1670-1775'', with Sinclair H. Hitchings, 1982.

References

External links

Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History
*

* Boston Athenaeum
Portrait of Whitehill
with bibliography 1905 births 1978 deaths Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard University alumni Alumni of the University of London Harvard University faculty 20th century in Boston Burials at Monticello 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians from Massachusetts 20th-century American male writers {{US-historian-stub

Publications

See also

References

External links